A cocktail of learning, fun

It’s hep, happening and cool. That’s how youngsters describe the ‘Garden City’ of Karnataka. Magnificent weather, cosmopolitan culture, multi-cuisine restaurants, mushrooming of IT and BT firms….you name it and Bengaluru has it.

Besides being associated with verdant greenery, the city has also earned various tags such as IT Capital, Pub City and Educational Hub. Though Bengaluru may not be very famous for its monuments, it still attracts tourists from different parts of the country.

It’s hard to miss some well-known landmarks such as the Bangalore-Lalbagh Botanical Gardens, which is thronged by more than a thousand morning walkers;

Cubbon Park; the Vidhana Soudha, home to the secretariat; the Karnataka High Court; Kempe Gowda Fort; MG Road and Brigade Road, which have the maximum pubs and shopping centres. Commercial Street, where everything is sold at a “fair price”, is a favourite for window shoppers.

Located 900 metres above sea level, the city has pleasant weather round the year.

Not just that. “For starters, the pace of the city is just right. It’s neither too fast, nor too slow. The mix of people from all across the nation and the globe makes Bengaluru culturally-rich as well,” says Aditi Gaitonde, who works with a private firm. She hails from Mumbai and is settled in Bangalore for some years now.

Another Bangalorean, A Ravindra, agrees that the city may not have much to offer by way of historical monuments, but it is home to some famous temples. “The Bull Temple and Doddaganapathi are major tourist attractions. The fact that there are several pubs and clubs also add to the fun quotient of the city.

Besides these, there are a number of resorts located on the outskirts of Bengaluru where families or students can enjoy some great weekends. A number of famous restaurants will offer you all kinds of cuisines,” he says.

The IT Hub is also a great place to pursue science and management education as it is home to the Indian Institute of Science and the Indian Institute of Management. “The reason you have so many students coming to Bengaluru could be the great weather, opportunities and mushrooming of firms. The cost of living is better and there are many good institutions here,” says VG Joseph, chairman, Garden City Group of Institutions.

In his college alone, 78% of students are from outside Bangalore. They have students from 69 countries pursuing various programmes. Tushar K, a fourth semester bachelor of computer Application (BCA) student from Jhamshedpur studying in Bangalore, says that he had made up his mind to study BCA in Garden City College. “I wanted to study in Bangalore as it’s the IT capital,” he says.